Just so you'll smile
by MidnightPantherRose
Summary: Arrancars don't-can't- love, but she falls for him anyway. Now he's in trouble and it's all her fault. Can she get to him in time to save him? Oneshot. ToushiroxOC.


**A/N: This is another story I got the idea for in the middle of the night, but that's normal for me. I don't why but I always get my best ideas or remember random stuff when it's the middle of the night/early morning. Oh the Italics between the line breaks are flashbacks. I also apologize for any errors. It seems no matter how many times I go over a story I always end up with at least one error. On with the story! Enjoy!=)**

**Disclaimer: I don't own bleach or Toushiro, but I don't own my OCs that are in this.**

* * *

My eyes widened in horror. I could feel it; his spiritual pressure was fading. My previous anger and hurt I was feeling disappeared in a second, only to be replaced by desperation and worry. I didn't think he would actually do it. I fled to him as fast as I could, new tears joining the ones that already stained my face.

Damn it! Please let me make it! I can't…no, not again. Not for keeps. I winced as pain shot through my now useless left arm, courtesy of unhealed wounds from my earlier battle. My body was in no condition for this; it was covered in injuries and dried blood. Despite my exhaustion I pushed forward. Now was not the time to give in to such things.

Fear and regret weaseled their way into my heart. Maybe if I hadn't said those words to him he wouldn't have gone to do something so stupid. I shook my head. I was the stupid one, not him. He was doing this for me, and how do I repay him? With a slap to the face and yelling, that's how. The thoughts played back through my memory like a sickening, gut-wrenching movie that was on a continuous loop and you couldn't take your eyes off even if you closed them.

* * *

_"You told them? H-how_ could_ you?" Tears prickled my eyes, threatening to fall, but I blinked them away. I felt a wave of betrayal wash over me, but I refused to cry._

"_Listen to me, they can help." The seriousness in his tone didn't hide the genuine concern sewn into it, but it was too late; I wouldn't fall for any of that. In the end he was just like the others said he was: a liar who managed to snare me in a deceitful trap and pretended to care up until the curtains drew closed on the final act._

"_Help me? They want to kill me!"_

"_Not you, those monsters." He reasoned._

_His statement only made my blood boil. "Did you forget I __**am**__ one of them?" My voice rose even more. "My thoughts may be a little different, but the basic form, make-up, and life are all the same! I am a __**monster**__ as you put it!" I could no longer stop my wall from breaking then; tears spilled over endlessly._

"_I didn't mean…" his voice faltered and he moved to put his arms around me._

_It took all I had and more not to surrender to the familiar and temping touch. I wanted so bad to wrap myself in his arms, but I just couldn't. Not after what he did. I pushed away and brought my hand to his face, leaving a red mark where it struck. "Shut up! You know what you said and you meant every word. You don't truly care about me."_

"_Then I'll prove it to you." His eyes locked onto mine, refusing to let go._

_My eyes widened slightly at what he was suggesting. "You can't be serious, that's suicide!" my voice remained firm and uncaring, I couldn't cave now just because of what he was saying. "You of all people wouldn't do something so stupid as to go alone."_

_He said nothing, merely holding my gaze. His eyes conveyed a vast amount of sincerity. It was a trick though, right? He was still playing along, wasn't he?_

"_Fine, go; see if I care." I knew he had to be bluffing. I turned and ran. I couldn't bear to look into those eyes any longer. If I did, then I would be captured once again._

_I heard his voice call after me, and was almost tempted to once more give in._

* * *

The adrenaline coursing through my blood caused me to pick up my pace, yet I still couldn't get there fast enough. I was so close now, just a little further. I jumped to the side to dodge an oncoming attack from behind. I turned to see Kai, one of the twins.

"Well, well if it isn't Eriko the traitor. What brings you back here? Did you finally realize those no good soul reapers won't take pity on the likes of us, on you? Too bad for you the boss doesn't need you anymore, so I'm going to rip you to shreds!" He lunged at me while shouting his sword release.

I managed to evade it. "Do you actually think you can beat me?" I questioned in a cocky tone. "Tetsuya was always the stronger out of you two, and I already defeated him."

* * *

_After I ran from him I encountered Tetsuya. "Hello there, Eri-chan." He wore a smirk and had a dangerous glint in his eye._

"_I don't have time to deal with you Tetsuya, so leave me alone."_

"_Aw, Eriko, why so cold?" He looked at me with mock hurt. "Oh I see did your little boyfriend reject you? Tsk, tsk I tried to warn you. You didn't listen though, and now look at where you are: crying and alone." He released his sword; I could only assume Boss gave him orders to kill me. That or he just wanted a fight, but it didn't matter, I was ready for him._

"_What do you know?" That comment pushed me over the edge I was hanging over. "Emulate Kagami!" My sword became a mirror image of his: a large sword with electricity dancing around it. I swung my blade. A bolt of lightning traveled through the ground beneath us._

_Tetsuya's eyes shifted around, no doubt trying to locate the attack he knew was coming. The lightning sprang forth from the ground underneath him. As I expected he moved out of the way unharmed. He let loose an insane cackle. "Silly girl, do you really think you can pull a sneak attack on me with my own weapon? I can pinpoint my zanpakuto's energy, so no matter how sneaky you are I will always know its' destination. Now strike!" His sword came down in a vertical motion, sending lightning straight for me._

_I dodged it with ease only to find it headed for me again. "What?" I continued to evade it._

"_You look surprised. I thought you knew, I can manipulate the lightning my blade produces until it hits something."_

"_Darn it." What am I supposed to do? I can't let it touch me, but if it doesn't hit something it'll continue to chase me. That's right, I can use that. I waited until the lightning was nearing in a straight line. "Defend!" At that moment Kagami transformed into a transparent, green, diamond shaped shield. It successfully blocked the lightning._

"_What is this?"_

"_Oh, I thought you knew." I mocked. "As long as I've seen it and can remember the words to release it my Kagami can mimic any shikai, or bankai, not just my current opponent's as you apparently thought."_

"_No matter, I'll still take you down."_

"_We'll see about that." We both charged at each other and Kagami reverted back to Tetsuya's sword. Bursts of electricity shot in all directions as we clashed. The battle seemed to be at a standstill. Every time one of us attacked the other countered perfectly. He was fast; I had to give him that. When I switched attacks without warning he was able to escape every one of them. I could tell he was still toying with me, not yet serious. I sent a rather large mass of lightning towards him._

_He made no effort to dodge or counter. What is he planning? All he did was hold his sword out in front of him, and braced himself. The lighting struck the tip of his sword, but it didn't spread to Tetsuya or send him back even. Instead it seemed to be absorbed by his sword. I guess I had a look of astonishment because he went on to explain. "I forgot to mention it earlier but my blade can absorb any attack that is made of pure energy."_

_My eyes narrowed in anger. His attitude was beginning to get on my nerves. Just to spite him I started a raid of lightning attacks aimed at him, trying to hit his blind spot. To my dismay he absorbed all of them. I stopped my onslaught to devise a better plan. He fell into another fit of laughter. "Sorry Eri-chan, but I'm bored of playing. It's time to end this." A feral grin crept onto his face. Then he attacked again._

_That's fine; I just absorb it like he does. I took my stance, and pointed my sword so that the attack would hit the tip. Only unlike what happened with Tetsuya, it didn't disappear within the blade, but it spread to me. I screamed as pain coursed through me._

"_Oh my, you thought that was an ability of my zanpakuto?" He said between laughs. "I'm afraid you're mistaken. That's something I trained myself to do. I mean I can't allow myself to be defeated by someone with a similar power to mine, now can I? You see, I trained my body to be able to withstand and absorb large amounts of energy like that, and I use my sword as a channel to pass the energy through to my body."_

_He meant for me to try to absorb his attack and I fell for it. I let out a pained gasp as he kicked me in my abdomen. My body still stung from the bolt of lightning, so I couldn't move that well. He flash-stepped behind me as I flew backwards in the air. He caught me by my left arm, twisting it behind my back harshly until it snapped. I let out a cry._

_In an attempt to get back on equal footing I swung my right arm around to stab him with my blade, but he dodged. At least he let go of me. Coughing I straightened up, my left arm falling limply to my side. It was broken in several places._

_We entered yet another round of matched attacks. The only difference was that this time more were able to slip through our defenses, and we were each dealt a significant quantity of damage. When I caught a ball of lightning on the end of my sword and held it there, I let a smile play on my lips._

"_How are you doing that?"_

"_It was easy to figure out once you so kindly explained. Kagami is confident and proud. She doesn't strive to equal her opponent and stop there; she strives to surpass them by learning their abilities and shooting them back tenfold. The more the same attack is used on her the more she can bounce it back with greater force. Now die!" As I swung my sword the ball of energy grew exponentially._

_He tried his hardest to dodge, but it slip into separate parts and cornered him. His eyes became frightened when he realized he couldn't escape. He screamed as the lightning hit all at once._

_I sighed and dropped to the ground. The battle took a lot out of me, and I can expect for others to come after me as well._

* * *

Anger flashed in his eyes as he blindly sprang at me. "You bitch! Detonate your target Hirotaka." His sword disappeared and I realized I've never seen his release before. I had no idea what to expect.

I kept my guard up, trying to find his sword. Perhaps I shouldn't have told him so bluntly that I killed his brother. I knew what would happen; he's always had the shorter fuse. Not mention he sometimes acts without thinking things through. This can either be an advantage or a disadvantage for me, depending on how I play my cards. I noticed a small green orb appear out of nowhere beside me. What is- I didn't have time to finish my thought before an explosion blew me away. What the hell?

Kai's zanpakuto reappeared in his hand. He glared at me, his dark hair swooping down and covering part of his right eye.

So this is his power. His sword becomes like a bomb in the form of that green ball. It's tiny and may prove difficult to stay clear of. I can't waste my time though. I need to make this battle quick so I can save him. "Kai, just calm down alright." I really didn't need him to lose it on me. Maybe I could get him to calm down if only a fraction. Kai during a mental breakdown is not safe to be around.

"Calm down, you want me to calm down? You killed my brother!" Great, now I've lost him. He started to swing wildly at me.

I was able to dodge his blade for the most part. I wasn't sure how long I could keep it up though. My energy and strength were seriously depleted from my fight with Tetsuya, and my left arm was still dead weight. I could probably move it if I tried, but the less pain I feel right now, the better.

"Stay still! Detonate. Detonate. Detonate!"

It was getting harder to evade his rash attacks. Every time I dodged a bomb another popped up right after. I flinched when I felt something in my eye. What now? Wait it couldn't be… I screamed, clutching at my right eye.

"Heh, how do you like that?" He laughed like a complete maniac.

"Damn." Blood spilled from my empty eye socket. This has gone on long enough. In his small victory I noticed he left himself wide open. "Emulate Kagami. Strike!"

He must have been surprised to see his brother's attack because he stopped laughing. All he could do was staring at it with shock, and stupidity as the lightning enveloped him entirely.

Confident that did the trick, I took off in his direction. Just as I got there I saw Boss hit him with an attack. His eyes widened in shock as his glorious wings shattered into millions of ice crystals. I saw Boss preparing to attack again and without thinking I rushed to him and got in front of him, taking the full force of the attack. I spiraled downward.

Am I going to die now? As I wondered this question more memories came flooding back, but this time they were good ones.

* * *

"_Yes sir." The five of us departed after receiving orders from Boss to take care of the soul reapers that arrived in the world of the living. We were arrancars, but we weren't allied with Aizen. Even so our goal was the annihilation of the soul reapers. I'm not sure why but Boss had an especially deep hate for them which is why we didn't follow Aizen. He was an ex-soul reaper. To be perfectly honest I could care less. For whatever reason I didn't hate humans or soul reapers or anything for that matter. Why was I with this group then? Well I had no choice. Boss saved me, and I owe him._

_When we arrived in the world of the living we split up, each going to a different soul reaper. Even if they were a captain none of us should have trouble. We were quite powerful. I don't mean to sound over confident since they're supposed to be extremely powerful, but I'm sure we could hold our own against the Espada._

_I stopped when I came across a white-haired boy. "Hey." I greet nonchalantly. I jumped back as a blade was swung at me. "Whoa, careful there you almost got me."_

"_Who are you arrancar?" He pointed his sword at me._

"_You know, a gentleman would introduce himself first." I made no move to unsheathe my sword, not yet. _

"_Toushiro Hitsugaya, captain of squad ten of the Thirteen Court Guard Squads."_

"_That's better. My, what a fancy title you have. My name is Eriko Tsutsumi, and unfortunately I have orders to kill you." I stated simply._

"_Reign over the Frosted Heavens Hyorinmaru!" _

_I dodged the dragon-looking ice attack fairly easily. "Emulate Kagami." I took a stance, waiting for him to make another move. He looked at me, seemingly thinking about something. He must not be the type to rush head-on into battle before having a plan, or at least knowing what to expect. "Well I guess if you're not going to strike again I'll take a shot." I pointed Kagami at him as the tip of the blade began to glow, and then made a circular motion before plunging my sword into the ground. "Burn all that you see." A ring of fire surrounded him. As it moved to engulf him completely it got smaller, moving inwards toward him. Soon it would reach him, burning him to ash. Honestly I didn't expect it to finish him off; he is a captain after all. I'm unsure as to why, but I do this all the time. I toy with my opponent as long as I can. Not because it amuses me, but to postpone the moment when I have to kill them. The truth is I don't like to kill, or watch the ones I kill die._

_A gust of ice broke through the fire barrier, causing the fire to disperse and fade. The following battle was something more of a friendly spar; at least it was on my end. Though I know he wasn't trying his hardest to defeat me either. I was kind of miffed that he didn't see me a worthy adversary to use his bankai on, even if I wasn't using my full power yet. "You might have a chance of winning if you used bankai."_

"_I don't need to use bankai to defeat an arrancar that's not even an Espada." He said in a serious mater-of-fact tone._

"_I wouldn't underestimate me, but if that's really how you feel then I guess I'll have to change that." I went to attack but stopped short of sensing one of my comrades' spiritual pressure plummet. Despite what you might think we're all very loyal to each other and protect one another. "Sorry, but I got to cut our little game off for now."_

_When I tried to leave he attacked, successfully stopping me in my tracks. "I can't let you get away."_

_Should've figured this one wouldn't let me off easy if he could help it. "Drown your enemies in a nightmare of insanity." The young captain dropped to his knees, clutching his hair and gasping for air. No telling what he's seeing right now, but it can't be pretty. That particular attack wouldn't have been my first choice, but I needed a quick escape and it certainly does the trick. There's no doubt in my mind that he'll overcome the hellish nightmare he's experiencing soon._

_About a week after I encountered the snow-haired soul reaper I went back to the world of the living. I kind of enjoyed being around the humans. They're always so full of life. I was just walking around eating something really yummy called watermelon when I saw him again. We both just sort of stared at each other for a moment. I'm sure I looked stupid since I was in the middle of taking a bite of watermelon. I noticed he was in a gigai and doing something on what I believe humans call a phone._

_Eventually it dawned on him who I was as he reached for something. I wasn't sure what it was called but I've seen other soul reapers take a type of pill to separate from their gigai._

"_W-wait, I don't want to fight." I said holding my hands up in surrender, still holding onto the container of watermelon I was eating. It was true; I was relaxing and had no intention of fighting anybody._

_He looked at me in disbelief, but stopped._

"_I know you may find it hard to believe but I don't want to kill you. And since I received no orders to further pursue you I have no reason to." I caught him practically drooling over my watermelon. I tried to suppress a giggle, but failed. "Do you want some?"_

_He straightened up and looked away, a small blush creeping up his cheeks. Guess he realized he was gawking. Still he refused my offer._

"_Come on, you know you want to." I said in a sing-song voice whilst waving the container in front of him._

_He grumbled something incoherently under his breath, but took one nonetheless. I didn't miss the small smile of contentment that lit up his features at he took a bite. Wow, he must really love this stuff. _

"_Do you want another one?" I asked when he finished eating his piece of watermelon._

"_Why do you keep offering me watermelon?"_

"_So you'll smile. You look so nice when you do; you should smile more often."_

_He looked taken back by my answer. He just stared at me, which made me blush a little, turning from his gaze._

_I'm not sure why Toushiro decided to not attack me that day, but I'm glad he did. Over the next few weeks or so we became closer to one another. Somewhere down the line he managed to make me fall in love with him. I felt so happy when around him that I couldn't help but smile and being in his arms made me feel safe and wanted._

_I should have known it wouldn't last; nothing blissful ever does, not in this world. It was all too soon when the others found out. Naturally they immediately they told me I was stupid for loving a "worthless soul reaper". This struck a nerve with me and resulted in spilt blood and my permanent leave. I knew they would hunt me down to dispose of the traitor I knew I was, but that didn't matter as long as I had Toushiro with me. I would be able to defend myself against them. Once Toushiro heard about this he told me he could talk to the Soul Society, that they could help, but I told him no. I know he himself is a soul reaper, but I also know how the soul reaper majority feel about arrancars like me. I couldn't think of any reason he could give them that would change their minds either. He told me not to worry, and that he would help me._

* * *

"Eriko!" Toushiro's worried cry reached my ears. That's right, I can't die now, not without completing what I came to do. I wouldn't be able to forgive myself if I did. Using what little strength I had left I propelled myself at Boss. The sounds of other battles penetrated my ears. Other soul reapers must be here fighting those I once called my comrades and make shift family. I let a sigh of relief pass my lips. It's okay then, I don't have worry about anyone else, just Boss.

I wrapped my arms tightly around Boss as new tears flooded down from my eye.

"Get off you stupid brat!" He struggled, pounding on my back with his hands to shake my body off, but I kept my hold firm.

My voice lowered to a whisper as I spoke. "Emulate Kagami. Detonate your target." I poured all my energy into Kagami to make the attack more powerful.

My body flung to the ground like rag doll, lifeless and broken. I felt someone scoop me into their arms. The movement made my body ache, but I didn't care for I knew who was holding me. His tears fell down, joining my own tears that soaked my face. "I'm sorry. I love you." I croaked out in a raspy voice.

He pulled me closer. "Why would you do this?"

I turned to face him, opening my eye to look into his beautiful, loving, tear-filled ones. I smiled weakly up at him and with my last breath I answered. "So you'll get a chance to show your beautiful smile again."

He leaned down to kiss me. The last thing I heard was him whisper softly, "I love you."

* * *

**A/N: Well there it is. I know most of it is flashback, so I apologize to any of you who don't like when a story has a lot of flashback in it. Though there are parts that I'm not entirly happy with but didn't know how to improve them, I'm actually really satisfied with how it turned out.(Which is a little weird for me. It's the first story I liked completely; for whatever reason I always end up not sure if I really like how a story turns out.) It's also a lot longer than I epected it to be. I figured it'd be around a thousand words certainly no more than 1050, but it ended up being 4,018. It also took longer than I thought to finish this. I don't know what happened. I was doing great in the beging; the words were practically writing themselves, but then suddenly I just couldn't write anymore. It wasn't like I ran out of ideas, I knew exactly hat was going to happen. I don't know if that ever happens to y'all but it seems to happen to me a lot. But enough of my babble. I hope you liked it, and if you did then you can tell me how much you lked it in a reveiw.**


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